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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27468088">Ancient History</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmptyHead/pseuds/EmptyHead'>EmptyHead</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Naruto</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 18:35:59</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>14,334</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27468088</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmptyHead/pseuds/EmptyHead</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Investigating a mysterious mission payment leads Naruto to discover that Sakura has done more to protect him than he was aware of.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Haruno Sakura/Uzumaki Naruto</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>147</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I'll be honest, I haven't read or watched that much of Naruto, but inspiration can strike when least expected apparently.  I do not know where the names Shinachiku and Hanami came from as hypothetical children for Naruto and Sakura, but the names came up so often in my brief research that I assume they're used for a reason.</p><p>This was originally conceived with Hinata in the main role, but the nature of her character made it incredibly hard to do what I wanted. As such, Sakura was swapped in which fit better for this.</p><p>Lastly, this will not be a long story. Expect only three chapters.  Maybe a ballpark guess of 13-14k words.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>Under most circumstances, the sight of Ino Yamanaka and Naruto Uzumaki slumped down in their chairs at the kitchen table would look unusual at best. It's an unusual friendship – one forged in the shared commiseration of loving someone that will never love you back.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Sai asked me out. I'm going to give him a chance," Ino says as she slightly lifts her head off the table to rest it on her hands. "I think it's time I start trying to move on."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Naruto pauses, then tilts his head to look at her. His depressed state is the only thing that keeps him from making a much louder exclamation of shock. "Sai? We're talking about the same guy, right? Awkward and won't stop talking about my dick?" he tries to confirm.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"He's attractive and called me beautiful."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>He barely bites back a retort that she's not exactly setting a high bar for herself if that criteria was good enough for her. Then again, it's not like he's in a position to say anything. He'll probably never move on himself at the rate he's going. That's fine with him though. It's been an accepted part of his life ever since he made his promise to Sakura.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ino fully sits up in her chair slowly to get a good look at Naruto. She considers him for a moment and seems to hesitate on her words. "I heard you turned Hinata down," she eventually says.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The young man looks away, cringing at the memory of how that particular encounter went. Naruto nods, not trusting his voice to not make a fool out of himself.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Why?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Naruto blinks. "You know why," he automatically responds.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>She does, of course, know exactly why. When she was 14, Ino realized that perhaps she liked Shikamaru more than she could have ever imagined. Unfortunately, by the time she had the revelation, she could already see the way the winds were blowing. He was already spending large amounts of time with Temari on her poor excuses for "diplomatic visits". With as much as Temari had become a friend of hers, Ino couldn't justify trying to barge her way between the two of them so she simply stood aside. It never stopped it from hurting however.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>With their similar experiences in love, Ino Yamanaka understands Naruto more than most.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>That doesn't keep her from staring at him expectantly, waiting for him to elaborate despite his obvious discomfort with the topic.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>He doesn't disappoint. With a sigh, he mumbles out, "It wouldn't be fair to Hinata. How can I be in a relationship with someone when I'm keeping Sakura in my heart?" Naruto lightly pounds his chest with a closed fist for emphasis.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ino taps her fingers on the table. "Why Sakura though? Why not Hinata?" she muses. If she's honest, she's always kind of wondered what drew him to their mutual friend.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Naruto turns back to look at her, then looks up to the ceiling. Matters of the heart have always been hard for him to talk about. Not so much because he doesn't want to, but rather that he simply doesn't know how. But he knows that Ino gets it, so he tries.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Hinata's very... gentle," he trails off as he shifts uncomfortably in his seat and hopes that the meaning of what he's trying to say gets through to her.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>It doesn't. Ino instead stares at Naruto like he's the biggest idiot in the world. "If that's news to you, I don't even know where to begin," she gets out, exasperated.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>He holds out his hands to try and stop her. "No! No, I mean- I mean-" Naruto stammers out as he tries to keep himself from getting beaten up by Ino. He puts his head in his hands and muffles a groan. "Hinata is like a small campfire at night. It's warm. Inviting. Gentle."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ino tilts her head, unsure why he's trying to make this sound like a bad thing. He scratches the back of his head, an obvious nervous tic. He doesn't know how to explain that when he imagines a future with Hinata, it's very quiet. Peaceful, but quiet. Gentle. While he's certain that she would always love him, he worries that it's simply not the kind of life he wants.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Jiraiya once told him that life is an adventure and Naruto has taken that statement to heart. He would tell Ino this, but he simply doesn't know the words. He doesn't know how to say that Sakura's eyes simply have so much more life in them than Hinata. That her eyes promise a lifetime of excitement. Of adventure.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>With Ino's gaze still upon him, waiting to clarify, Naruto holds out his hands like he's holding the most precious item in the world. His eyes glaze over as he imagines that he sees the brilliant light of Sakura's life in his hands.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Hinata's fire is gentle," Naruto tries one last time as his voice drops to a low reverent tone, "But Sakura's fire can roar."</em>
</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p><br/>
Unlike what his younger self would ever believe, Naruto Uzumaki loves mornings. The hard part is getting enough sleep to appreciate it.</p><p>Stretching like a waking cat, the Seventh Hokage ungracefully rolls out of bed and drowsily slips a shirt on before following the smell of breakfast out to the kitchen where he's reminded just how lucky he is.</p><p>Sakura Uzumaki is peacefully oblivious, swaying her body back and forth to a nameless tune she's humming while flipping eggs at the stove. This moment, and many others like it, is why he loves mornings so much. It's the time of day when his family is together without responsibility.</p><p>Quietly stepping behind his wife, Naruto slips his arms around her in a hug and holds her tight as she sways. He moves his head down to give her a kiss on the cheek from behind and then utterly ruins the moment when his voice cracks hoarsely as he tries to say, "Good morning".</p><p>Pausing, Sakura turns around to laugh quietly at his failed attempt to be cool. She doesn't mind though while she waits for Naruto to finish coughing his throat back into normal operation.</p><p>"I'm pretty sure it was my turn to make breakfast, you know," he says as he reaches back out to her.</p><p>She shrugs, "I was in the mood-"</p><p>"We're hungry!"</p><p>"-and so were the other two people that just so happen to live in this house."</p><p>Naruto turns around to look at the kitchen table where his children are seated, impatiently waiting for their food. Shinachiku and Hanami may look almost exactly like their parents, but in a strange twist, their personalities are switched. His son acts much like his mother. His daughter though... Naruto is already dreading the day he starts getting reports of a pink-haired whirlwind storming through Konoha and causing trouble.</p><p>Gesturing with his head back to their bedroom, Naruto tries to take over cooking, "How about you get your shower in. I'll finish up."</p><p>His wife gives him a suspicious glance, but agrees and heads off down the hallway. He listens for the sound of the bathroom door closing and immediately spins around to his children. "You remember where you have your mother's birthday presents hidden, right?" he confirms with them. They both nod. "Good. That's only a couple days away. Did you two decide where we're going to go eat?"</p><p>Shinachiku suddenly looks around behind him and points a finger. "Dad, the eggs are on fire," he informs him as if this is a completely normal occurrence.</p><p>Sure enough, he turns around to a sight of a raging flame coming from the pan of eggs. Naruto feels his soul escape him. "How?" he despairs. He was only looking away for thirty seconds!</p><p>The smoke alarm goes off.</p><p>Naruto supposes that having five minutes before something goes wrong isn't the worst start to a day that he's had.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p><br/>
<em>"That bastard!" Naruto shouts as he pounds a fist into the open palm of his bandaged hand. "I can't believe him! It's been over two years and that asshole still won't send us a message! I should go beat him up and drag him home again."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Sakura takes a drink from her bottle of water, exhausted from their training and sparring. "He'll come back when he's ready. He said he would," she reminds him.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>A message had come through to Kakashi this morning from Sasuke. Nothing was included for Naruto or Sakura. Again. Surprisingly, Sakura was the one who promptly dragged her teammate out to the grounds to fight immediately after.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Why did you want Sasuke to come home so bad?" she asks.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Ehh? I made you a promise," he reminds her as if it's the most obvious thing in the world.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>That's her fault for not explaining better. "No, I mean," she tries again, "you said you had your own reasons for wanting him back. You said he was important to you, but you two hated each other. You even complained about having him on our team."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Naruto leans back against the tree they're taking shade under following their training session and thinks about it. Back when he was in the Academy, Naruto would have done anything to have even a single good friend his age. He tried, oh he tried, but he would always make a fool out of himself or people would ignore him. That's why he had such a grudge against Sasuke when they were growing up. Sasuke had everything that Naruto could have ever dreamed of. He was skilled. He was popular. All he had to do was take the stick out of his ass for just a few seconds and he could have all the friends in the world. It pained the younger Naruto to see someone have so much that he himself wanted and seemed to just be taking it for granted.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>When he thinks back on it, the two of them were never exactly "friends" when they were Genin. At best, they simply had a rivalry that grew more and more tense with each day until it had snapped.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>But he had acknowledged him.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>And for some reason, for some unknown reason that Naruto will never fully understand himself, that feeling was more powerful than any friendship he'd ever had. He wonders if Sasuke feels the same way about him.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"I don't really know," he tells Sakura, defeatedly. "Before leaving on his trip after the war, we called each other 'brother' and I don't know why. It's just... a feeling."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The pink-haired kunoichi furrows her brow at the vague response, but Naruto isn't looking at her. He's off somewhere else, seeing some distant land in his eyes. "Back when the old Sage guy told us about those two brothers – Asura and Indra – everything made so much sense to me. It was dumb and I hated it, but the idea that Sasuke and I had this bond because we were some kind of reincarnations of brothers explained so much."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Naruto pauses to pluck at some grass and throw it in the air before continuing. "I don't like the idea of fate and stuff like that, but maybe that's what destiny is. Just a feeling you get. I hope not. I don't want Neji to think I'm a hypocrite."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Slowly, he shrugs as if trying to shake off the weight of the question. He turns his head to face her. "What about you? You wanted Sasuke back because you love him, right? Why do you love him?" he asks.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Sakura immediately reaches out and pounds him on the top of the head in what is sure to leave a bruise. "Don't question a girl's heart, idiot."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Sakuuraaa," he protests in a light whine, rubbing his head. "I'm just curious."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Huffing, she slides over and begins to apply medical chakra to where she hit him. Naruto's eyes droop in obvious contentment and drowsiness as she considers his question. She supposes that the heartfelt answer Naruto gave her means she owes him one in response.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The problem is that she doesn't really know what to say. She's barely had any meaningful conversation with Sasuke in many years. Aside from their words exchanged while attempting to kill each other, she was able to spend a whole hour with him after he was released from his detainment in Konoha following the war. By the time that hour was up, he was already on his way out for his journey, ending in his refusal to take her with him.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>A total of a whole hour of conversation over the past 6 or 7 years.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Sakura is older now. She can better appreciate that the reasons people have for crushes when they are younger are usually childish thoughts. It's this that makes it difficult for her to explain why she loves Sasuke in a way that doesn't make her sound shallow.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Wishing she understood herself better, she finds herself mirroring Naruto's own words.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"I don't know. I just do."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>It bothers her more than she thinks it should that Naruto finds absolutely nothing wrong with her answer.</em>
</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p><br/>
Kakashi Hatake was probably Naruto Uzumaki's most hated person.</p><p>Well, for the past month or so. He'd get over it after a while.</p><p>Three years after the war, on Naruto's birthday, there was an assassination attempt on the Sixth Hokage. While Kakashi had recovered, something seemed to change a little in the man. Replacing Shizune, Naruto was drafted shortly after the attempt on his life to become the Sixth's assistant under the guise of "training for the job". In reality, he thinks it was just Kakashi being lazy and trying to dump work on the poor boy. Regardless of how annoyed Naruto was at the time, he still appreciated the opportunity. It put him that much closer to the position he had been seeking all his life and the fact that he was doing more of the paperwork than the actual Hokage at the time meant that many were treating Naruto as though he already had the job.</p><p>It wasn't until Naruto finally became the Seventh that he realized how lazy Kakashi really was. Taking over the office of his dreams, Naruto elected to make a few modifications to the space. Newer flooring to replace some sections that had started falling apart, different furniture, additional cabinets to help keep the constant paperwork sorted, cable hookups to support modern computer technology, etc. Except, when they started moving things around and ripping up the floors, they found entire stockpiles of old paperwork that the Sixth had seemingly hidden away due to not wanting to do it.</p><p>Chipping away at the absurdly late documents was a challenge, but by doing a little bit each night, Shikamaru and Naruto were eventually able to finally get close to finishing. The final batch of Kakashi's forgotten paperwork is all dated several years back. It's old, but the bright side to this is that Naruto can ignore and toss out most of it due to it being irrelevant from age. Still, somewhere beneath the ancient Request For Leave forms and security proposals that he'll need to discuss with Shikamaru, Naruto finds something a bit unusual.</p><p>An uncashed and undelivered mission paycheck made out to Sakura Uzumaki.</p><p>It's not dated, but it has the Sixth's signature on it and it has a mission number noted in the corner - standard policy to limit fraud on missions being paid out twice. The amount of money that the check is for is hefty and deep into the S-Rank range of payouts. A single small piece of paper is attached to the paycheck via a paperclip. On it, the words "I'm sorry" are written in Kakashi's handwriting. Nothing more.</p><p>Naruto narrows his eyes and flips the check and attached piece of paper over a couple times, looking for any hint of other information. The idea that his wife would have somehow not noticed a payment of this size is laughable. After all, there are a lot of zeroes on it. The logical assumption is that this is a duplicate and was already cashed out.</p><p>With the mission number being the only place to start, Naruto reaches over to the laptop on his desk and enters it into their new records system. It returns no results. This isn't all that surprising since they're still scanning and imaging the thousands upon thousands of documents they have in storage, but it is slightly unusual. The effort started with the newest material and worked backwards. This mission should be in there. Unless...</p><p>The Hokage leans back in his chair and briefly closes his eyes to think. The obvious solution would be to call Sakura and simply ask her. Instead, the mischevious side of him thinks of a better idea. Since today should be the last day of late paperwork, bringing home a nice bonus for his wife would be a nice surprise. Or maybe he could even tie this in as the birthday gift that he still needs to buy.</p><p>Assuming it's even legitimate.</p><p>The second most likely culprit that would know what's going on would be his old sensei since he signed it and wrote the attached note, but something makes him hesitate on getting the older man involved. The words "I'm sorry" imply some kind of regret or failure on Kakashi's part and Naruto has never seen him do this before. Rather than drudge up potentially bad memories, he decides to deal with it himself.</p><p>Grabbing the white cloak off the back of his chair designating him as the Seventh Hokage, Naruto dons it and steps out of the office while grinning that maybe things are looking up for once.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p><br/>
<em>"It's been bothering me though. Shouldn't I know why I love Sasuke?" Sakura vents from her place on the floor of Ino's home. Her arms are splayed out, exhausted.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The Yamanaka is sitting at a desk nearby, lazily filling out a report. She shrugs lightly. "Does it really matter? The end result is that you love him. Who cares how you got there?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Sakura drags a hand over her face slowly in mild frustration, unsure how to respond. She's never felt like this before – like she needs to justify it to herself. It's an uncomfortable feeling and leaves her thinking she's missing a piece to a puzzle that she didn't even know she was working on.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ino flips to start working on what must be the seventh or eighth page of her report. She takes a moment to look over her friend. "Are you sure you're trying to understand or are you just looking for an excuse?" she asks, maybe a little harsher than she meant.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"What's that supposed to mean?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The blond haired kunoichi waves her off, "Never mind."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Deciding to drop the subject, Sakura wonders, "What are you even working on?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"The Hokage asked me to update a psych report for a couple people. Not sure why."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Really?" The medic sits up and tries to lean closer to take a look. "Who?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ino immediately snatches the paper away to keep her from peeking at classified material. She then knocks the girl on her head in punishment. "Bad girl. You know better than that."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The many aspects of Konoha that the Yamanaka has involved herself with has always impressed Sakura. Her friend is an accomplished medic, a skilled interrogator, and has even been making waves in the Barrier Sensing Team. The sheer adaptability to any role has made her an invaluable asset to the village. Ino has even mentioned something about wanting to take on a Genin team someday.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Is this what you do all day? Roll around on the ground and moan about Sasuke?" Ino teases her.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>As expected, Sakura falls back down to the floor and rolls over. "No. Naruto usually keeps me company," she grumbles, not enjoying being made fun of.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Well, he tends to keep things interesting at least," is the non-committal response.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"You don't even know the half of it," the medic's eye rapidly twitches angrily. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to drag Naruto to the Hokage's office these days when he's summoned? His fans are everywhere and he stops and talks to every single one. He's so damn polite about it too. And oblivious! These girls are practically throwing themselves at him! There was this one girl-"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Hold on," Ino interrupts and holds up a hand, "are you being jealous right now?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"WHAT!?" she squawks back loudly.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>All Ino can do is laugh as her friend fumes at her silently. Glancing at the top of her report where "Subject – Sakura Haruno" is written, she scribbles in her new findings.</em>
</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>The Vault is the nickname given to the storage area of important documents. This largely means legal documents and mission reports. Endless mission reports. Access is heavily restricted due to how much potentially classified information can be acquired which was one of the driving forces behind updating their computer systems to streamline the process. The reason Naruto finds himself here now is because while nearly all missions in recent history have been documented and imaged into their systems, the most heavily classified files are still "Eyes Only" in the most restricted of rooms in the Vault that only a select few are allowed to enter.</p><p>It's a smaller area than most would expect as there aren't very many missions needing that level of secrecy. Primarily, they are the kinds of reports that could have started wars with other nations. The need for these kinds of things dropped to almost nothing after the war due to the unprecedented level of peace and cooperation that exists now, which brings Naruto to question what exactly the mission was even about. It must have been after the war since that's when Kakashi took over.</p><p>It takes about ten minutes of rifling through security mechanisms and filing cabinets before he finds it. What he sees on the mission report is nothing like what he expects. For one thing, Sakura wasn't even assigned to the mission. It says she rejected it. The names are blanked out from the report, but he knows her registration number by heart.</p>
<ul>
<li>012601: Mission Refused.</li>
<li>R: Unable to complete. Reassigned.</li>
<li>R: Critical Mission Failure. See below.</li>
</ul><p>Naruto narrows his eyes. Why did Kakashi want to pay out to Sakura on a mission she wanted no part of? In addition, the R symbols used were reserved for special cases of non-registered ninjas that lived in Konoha. It's actually a classification that the Sixth created when trying to figure out how to handle the former Root members when the organization collapsed. Many of them are now retired, but there are still a few floating around in service.</p><p>So, Kakashi tried to assign the mission to Sakura and she refused to do it? It appears that he then assigned the mission to a former Root ninja who failed, then had it assigned to a second former Root ninja who also failed. Extremely unusual.</p><p>The exact details of the mission are removed from the page and it's left blank. The start date and end date are removed. All that's left are some handwritten notes.</p>
<ul>
<li>Apr 7th - Sakura Haruno is actively interfering with mission objectives. More direct plan may be required. Searching for a new specialist.</li>
<li>Oct 10th – Sakura Haruno has captured and interrogated mission assignee. Her loyalty to the Hokage has been severely damaged and may be beyond repair.</li>
<li>Oct 30th – Mission placed on indefinite hold.</li>
<li>Undated - Due to the birth of Shinachiku Uzumaki, this mission is now unnecessary and considered moot.</li>
</ul><p>"What...?" Naruto whispers to himself faintly as he focuses entirely on the final note.</p><p>He knows - better than most due to his role as Hokage – that there are very few reasons that the birth of a child would make a mission "moot".</p><p>Naruto Uzumaki pulls out the undelivered paycheck and stares at it, hoping with all his heart that he's misunderstanding it all.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p><br/>
<em>"Leave us."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>It's a simple command, but not one that Sakura is used to hearing from their new Hokage. Kakashi doesn't speak with authority very often among the old members of Team 7 ever since he took up the office, but she thinks that's mainly because they spend half of their time teasing him about how silly the hat makes him look more than anything else.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>She resists the urge to glance at who left. It's not proper protocol to poke around and look for info on who has guard duty. Two pairs of feet step out and close the door.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"You needed to see me, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asks.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kakashi lets out a long, suffering sigh. He's cleared the room of fragile items and there's no paperwork at all on his desk. All appointments are rescheduled. One way or the other, he expects this to take up much of his time. Getting the ball rolling, he asks, "How much do you know about the history of the Nine Tails, Sakura?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The kunoichi blinked, not having expected this to be the topic of conversation. It's not something that would need the level of secrecy her former teacher seemed to want. "Is this about Naruto's mother?" she asks.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"We can start there," Kakashi says. He hums lightly as he props up both of his arms on the desk and arches his fingers together in front of his face. "As you may have heard from your teammate, Kushina Uzumaki was brought to Konoha from Uzushio in order to become the jinchūriki of the Nine Tails. What you may not necessarily have been told is why it had to be her."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Not exactly," Sakura agreed.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>He pauses for just a moment to determine his next words. "The Uzumaki are an interesting bunch. While nearly all of them are gone now, the older records indicate that their abnormally high life-force carried many interesting properties which would trigger unique mutations in their chakra. You've likely heard about the chains that Kushina could wield or the healing attributes of the girl that Sasuke found, Karin."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Did something happen to Naruto? Why bring this up with me?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kakashi shakes his head. "He's fine. I bring this up because these properties of Uzumaki chakra make them well suited to being jinchūriki. It helps buffer and protect against corruption from within. The fact that Naruto is the Fourth's son is not the only reason the beast was sealed inside of him. A major factor is that there simply was no one else that would safely be able to contain it without additional risk."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Sakura shifts her weight to her other foot, unable to extrapolate where he's going with this.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>He leans back slightly and opens a drawer where he removes a single piece of paper. He passes it over to Sakura. She glances over it quickly and her eyes immediately widen in shock. It's a psychological evaluation about Naruto written up in Ino Yamanaka's handwriting. Almost the entire thing is censored from her except for a section about relationships. It's summarized in two bullet points.</em>
</p>
<ul>
<li><em>Despite the low probability of it ever being returned, Subject possesses no romantic intentions for anyone except Sakura Haruno. This is unlikely to ever change for the rest of Subject's life.</em></li>
<li><em>Subject is content with this, despite everything. He claims he once asked Jiraiya why he never married. While Subject provides no details as to what Jiraiya said, he does say that the two of them are extremely similar in this regard.</em></li>
</ul><p>
  <em>Sakura crumples the page into a ball and throws it back at the Hokage. "W-Why are you showing me this!?" she stammers out in a bewildered yell of embarrassment.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The Sixth maintains his calm. "There are concerns - ones that I find myself rather agreeing with - that one day the Nine Tails will no longer be on a working relationship with our village. Perhaps not in ten or twenty years, but we do not know what it will do when Naruto eventually dies. It might not matter for well over a hundred years, but when the time eventually comes, we must have a contingency plan to seal it away again if needed."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The medic feels her heart drop out from under her.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Sakura Haruno, in order to protect the future generations of our world from the threat of the tailed beasts, your mission is to engage in a relationship and secure at least one child from Naruto Uzumaki."</em>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p>
<p>
  <em>Words were exchanged. Their argument went on for several minutes.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"I can't believe you!" Sakura screams at the Hokage. "What makes you think I'd go along with this!?"</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Her body feels stabbed of betrayal. How could he possibly expect her to be okay with this? What in the hell is he thinking?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Her mind flickers to a memory of a snowy night in the Land of Iron. She's already tried to manipulate Naruto once and she has to live with that regret. Why would she want to do that again?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Jinchūriki only really became a normal thing when the system of ninja villages started. Their entire point was to serve as deterrents for war because the scale of battle increased from the Warring Clans era. They shouldn't be needed anymore in the peaceful world that things are moving towards thanks to Naruto's actions and the ongoing diplomatic efforts that he has been involved in. Why does Kakashi want to go back to that?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"You," Sakura distantly realizes and her body goes slack in disbelief, "you don't believe in Naruto. I can't believe this is happening. You really don't believe in him. You don't want this as a protection measure. You want the military power it represents. This isn't about being scared it'll attack. You're afraid it's going to leave!"</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"If you do not accept this, we will find another to assign it to," Kakashi reveals.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Her voice turns sharp enough to cut steel. "What?"</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"I'm offering you the chance to complete this with minimal incident. This mission is too important to pass on. If you do not accept we will find another way."</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Her body moves up to the Hokage's desk of its own accord and Sakura slams her fist into it in a protective rage. The table shatters into thousands of splinters. "Don't you dare," she growls out, the vision of death itself embodied within her.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>She storms out before he has the chance to respond. The door to his office breaks off its hinges when she slams it shut.</em>
</p>
<p> </p><hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>Naruto can't sleep.</p>
<p>For the first time in his life, he feels uncomfortable with the way Sakura's body rests against his in their bed. The way her arm drapes over him now feels unnatural.</p>
<p>With the moon still high in the sky, Naruto slowly slips Sakura off of him and slides out of bed, feeling the urge to just get away from it all. He looks for anything to distract him. Anything.</p>
<p>He's not hungry. He's not thirsty. He doesn't have any reports to look over at home.</p>
<p>Feeling claustrophobic in his own house, he slides open the glass door to a small patio outside and sits on a bench they had installed. There's no one in sight and nothing around to look at to pull his thoughts away from the dark path they've started taking. As the cool night air settles around him, he puts his head in his hands and wonders what in the hell he's doing.</p>
<p>"Everything okay?" comes a certain voice from the door.</p>
<p>With the way his luck has been going for the past 24 hours, Naruto thinks he shouldn't be surprised that trouble followed him out. Keeping his head in his hands to avoid looking at her, he takes deep breaths as the sound of soft footsteps get closer.</p>
<p>It would be so easy. All he has to do is ask the words, "Were you paid to fall in love with me?"</p>
<p>It would be so damn easy.</p>
<p>But he's older now. Wiser. He's learned that what takes years to build only takes seconds to destroy.</p>
<p>The few notes off the mission report that hadn't been removed indicated that Sakura refused the mission. It indicated she was interfering with others who were assigned. It made it sound like the birth of his son was merely a coincidence and not the intended result.</p>
<p>Naruto looks up from his seat to see his beautiful wife who is standing in front of him, looking down with honest concern in her eyes. He sees no deception, sees no ulterior motive.</p>
<p>No. There's no possible chance that Sakura was manipulating him. He doesn't believe it.</p>
<p>Hesitantly, he reaches out and grasps one of her hands. "Can you stay?" he asks in a far weaker voice than he hoped for.</p>
<p>"Sure." She immediately takes her place beside him, unsure how to help. "Did something happen today?" she softly asks.</p>
<p>He nods. "I'm not ready to talk about it yet."</p>
<p>Sakura accepts this easily and wraps one of her arms around him.</p>
<p>Leaning against each other, Naruto and Sakura fall asleep under the stars.</p>
<p> </p><hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>There's something wrong with Naruto's replacement arm. It's nothing too serious, but after some complaints about pain during training, it was discovered that the bonding process with the Hashirama cells had gone slightly wrong in a couple places. Surgery would be needed to fix it.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Surgery with Naruto can be pretty hit and miss. As he's grown older and more powerful, his body has simply become more and more resistant to being put to sleep under anesthetic (sleep genjutsus have a complicated history in the medical practice). Consequently, he's sometimes awake during the process. Highly delusional and in a happy high, but awake. It's usually not an issue since the staff has gotten good at making sure he's secure and can't move around.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Unfortunately, that doesn't keep him from talking. Listening to Naruto babble for three hours straight about how pretty he thinks Sakura's hair is can be enough to drive her out of Konoha in embarrassment. The nurses helping her with the operation that keep giggling during the whole ordeal do not help.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>He finally falls asleep shortly after finishing as they wheel him into a private room to rest. When she's the only one left in the room, Sakura sits in a nearby chair and debates the moral implications of what she wants to do.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>It was two weeks ago that she had her argument with Kakashi and stormed out of the mission. His lingering mention that it would be reassigned is something that Sakura cannot accept. She cannot let it happen. But she also can't let Naruto know.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>The problem: Her efforts to protect him from what the Hokage wants to do have hit a bit of a snag. Namely, she can't always be with him. She's not there for every mission and demanding she go along with every single one would raise too many obvious red flags with the Hokage. If he somehow wasn't already aware of what she was doing, he would be then.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>The proposed solution: Sakura needs the help of someone who will always be there when she can't be. She wants to request assistance directly from the Nine Tails.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Decision made, the medic gets up and stands next to Naruto, channeling some healing chakra into his system. Only enough to wake him up for a few moments. Her efforts are rewarded a few seconds later when her teammate's eyes begin to flutter. "Saaaaakuraa?" he drawls out slowly with a small amount of drool falling from his mouth, still heavily drugged.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>She kneels down next to him and quietly asks, "I need to talk to Kurama. Can you do that, Naruto?"</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"Whazzat? Sleeeeepy."</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Sakura taps him on the head a few times and flicks his forehead, "Stay awake for a moment. I need to talk to Kurama."</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>It doesn't work. Seconds later, Naruto is already snoring. "Raaammeeennn," he mutters in sleep, clearly dreaming of his favorite food.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Her eye twitches. Sakura moves her hands to try and wake him up again when suddenly the beast in question literally walks out of Naruto's stomach of its own accord.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Faintly, she realizes she had forgotten that the seal holding the beast back had long ago been fully opened.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Standing next to her was the immensely powerful beast that was a focal point in the Fourth Shinobi War. He's not full size – the hospital wouldn't be standing if he was – but rather he's somewhat smaller. About a few times Akamaru's size if she had to guess. His presence is still the most imposing thing she's ever felt and she immediately races to the doors and windows to lock and close the blinds so that no one sees. Kurama merely stands there with one eye lazily closed, but the other still carries mild interest.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"Speak," he says. His deep voice rumbling slightly. The burnt orange color of his fur is dulled a little in the darkness of the room, but the nine individual tails still sway back and forth.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Taking a moment to calm her nerves over how bad this conversation could potentially go, Sakura begins with, "I need your help to protect Naruto, but he can't know. Can he hear us?"</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kurama glances to Naruto for just a moment, "It's taken care of. He will not wake."</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"Okay," she says before pausing to choose her words. Given what she knows about the fox, keeping things straightforward and making no deception would be best. It would know if she was lying. "During the war, Naruto mentioned that you have the ability to sense negative emotions and the feelings of people around you."</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>The fox remains motionless and silent, giving nothing away. Sakura continues, "The Hokage is trying to have someone seduce Naruto and make sure that the Uzumaki line continues so that there are more viable jinchūriki candidates. I don't agree with using him like that."</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>A low, deep, rumbling hum escapes Kurama for a moment. "This would explain your recent behavior," he muses. The fox almost seems thoughtful, seemingly uncaring about the threat to his future that she revealed. Or perhaps confident that it won't matter.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Internally, Sakura wonders how she should feel about the fact that the most powerful living creature in the world has been paying attention to her.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"Why do this?" the beast asks, watching her intently.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>A conversation with Yamato from years ago flashes to her mind. "The things I can do for Naruto have always been so small," Sakura explains. "But I can do this. I've made enough mistakes with him."</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>The beast sniffs the air, as if literally smelling her emotions off of her. It seems content with what it finds. The eye that was previously closed is now open and is also focused on her. "How did you learn this?" Kurama questions.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"The Hokage tried to assign it to me."</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>And unlike every possible response Sakura could have expected, Kurama begins to laugh. A long, deep laugh. The fox moves in closer and begins to circle around her, speaking, "Amusing. So very, very amusing that you were not forced to be with the Uchiha. Perhaps I should be honored that your village is more worried about me than continuing on their precious Sharingan or ensuring his loyalty."</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>He stops and looks up directly into her face. "Very well. I will go along with this."</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Relief floods her. "I don't know who it might be. It could be anyone," she advises while nodding.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kurama slightly tilts his head in what she thinks is a mocking curiosity. "Even you?" he challenges.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>She takes the leap.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"Even me."</em>
</p>
<p> </p><hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>Naruto Uzumaki glosses over a report detailing the status of an exchange program he's testing with the Mizukage. It's turning out to be relatively successful. Enough, at least, for some of the other Kages to catch wind of it. The Raikage has expressed some interest and a few letters from some smaller villages have come in about it. Noting some particular points of interest, the Hokage circles a few items and pens a few notes in the margins, then sets the paper aside in a basket used for later review in meetings.</p>
<p>He hasn't been particularly productive today. Despite him coming to the conclusion that his wife did nothing wrong and that their relationship is real, the strange mission keeps pestering him in the back of his mind.</p>
<p>It really boils down to a single question: If Sakura wasn't paid to fall in love with him, then what the hell happened?</p>
<p>It's not one that he has an answer for and he has few leads. He's not going to approach his wife about it. Tapping his pen rhythmically on his desk, Naruto decides he might have to take it up with Kakashi.</p>
<p>He's interrupted from his thoughts by a knock at the door and Shizune steps in the room. "Ehh? They got you running errands again, Shizune?" he asks.</p>
<p>The woman shrugs as she approaches the desk, her hands full of fresh paperwork to hand off. "I'm helping Sakura catch up on some things. She wants to take off early tomorrow," she explains.</p>
<p>Suddenly, she leans in and glares at Naruto suspiciously. "You do remember that Sakura's birthday is tomorrow, right? You haven't forgotten?"</p>
<p>He resists a flinch. He hasn't exactly forgotten. He's just been rather preoccupied with, well, recent events. Naruto waves off the concern, "I remember. She doesn't want a big party this-"</p>
<p>The Hokage cuts himself off as the words "birthday" and "party" roll around in his mind, making vague connections and new speculations. Ignoring Shizune for a moment, Naruto reaches over to a drawer where he was keeping the mysterious mission that's been on his mind and checks the dates that were left in the notes.</p>
<p>October 10th.</p>
<p>His birthday.</p>
<p>The notes indicate that Sakura did something that day. Something big enough that her loyalty to the village was a huge concern.</p>
<p>The year isn't listed on the mission notes, but Naruto knows one major event that happened on one of his birthdays: the attempted assassination of the Sixth Hokage. It's quite a huge stretch, but...</p>
<p>Naruto doesn't remember much of that night. The end of the Fourth Shinobi War happens to coincide with his birthday so when the third anniversary of the end of the war came around, his friends threw together a massive party at some new bar that Kakashi had recommended. Over half of them had passed out drunk. Truthfully, he doesn't even remember leaving, but he certainly recalls the massive headache when he woke up and his shock at the news that his teacher had been attacked in the night.</p>
<p>He snaps out of his thoughts to find that Shizune has been asking him questions and he hadn't been listening to a single bit of it. Hoping that she doesn't mind the rudeness and abrupt change, Naruto asks, "You were Kakashi's assistant when he was attacked, right? I took over after he recovered. Did you ever find out who it was?"</p>
<p>Taken aback at the random question, the woman grimaces a little and shakes her head. "No. They wouldn't tell me a thing. I wasn't even allowed to help heal him. Only Lady Tsunade was allowed to see him in a hidden facility, I think."</p>
<p>Tsunade... Naruto allows himself a moment to chew on this new information as he thinks about it. "Alright. I'm going to go pay her a visit," he decides as he grabs his cloak and hat.</p>
<p>Shizune holds out the documents she had for him which he had completely forgotten about and waves them in his face. "Don't try and get out of this now, mister."</p>
<p>Embarrassed, he waves his hands helplessly and points at his desk, "Just, uh, leave it on the pile. I'll get to it." The Seventh immediately flees the room before he has to deal with her wrath.</p>
<p> </p><hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>Several months pass.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>With no leads on who the mission to take advantage of Naruto could possibly be reassigned to, Sakura finds herself spending as much time as possible with him to keep an eye out. Lunch? Sure. Training? Always nice to get stronger. Studying some materials for becoming Hokage? She's good with that. She'll bring some tea and some medical journals to catch up on.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Naruto never even bats an eye at some of the absurd excuses she gives for wanting to be near him.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>When rumors begin circulating that a "pink-haired terror" is scaring away all of Naruto's fans with deadly glares, some of them begin assuming that she's the hero's girlfriend. With a bright smile, Naruto never corrects the villagers when they say it. If they were still younger, Sakura would find his easy acceptance of this annoying, but it's too convenient to pass up and makes her job easier.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Despite the constant and extreme stress of analyzing virtually everyone she meets with Naruto as a possible threat, Sakura finds herself strangely happy. She's perpetually exhausted and tired, but when she looks at herself in the mirror, there's always a faint smile.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"You look like you got laid," Tsunade bluntly calls Sakura out one night.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Being retired has been good to the Fifth Hokage and she's in better spirits than she's been in for decades. Many others might not see it that way though. Now that she no longer has massive piles of work, she spends much of her time drinking and planning various "Girls Nights". Almost all of them involve alcohol.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>The bright side to this is that she's at least a happy drunk now instead of a stressed or angry one.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"Haven't you heard the rumors, Lady Tsunade? She's dating Naruto now," Ino teases and drawls out Naruto's name.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Tsunade takes a drink and nods as if this entirely aligns with her worldview. "You had sex with Naruto then? Good for you. About time."</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Sakura wants to die.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Flustered beyond words and her face the same color as her hair, she yells out, "I did not! And I'm not dating Naruto!"</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"Come on," Ino presses, "I heard about how possessive you are with him at least four times today. Don't deny it."</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>This wasn't exactly a side effect she considered when she undertook her self-imposed mission. It's one thing for random people she's never met to think she's in a relationship with her teammate. Her friends though, that's a whole different thing. But it's not like she can tell them what's really going on.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Ino herself represents a complicated question. Sakura could easily identify that it was her handwriting on Naruto's report, but it's unknown how much she actually knows. Is Ino aware of the mission? Sakura doesn't think so. Frankly, she thinks that Ino may be an unwitting pawn.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"I heard you're with him every waking moment," Shizune says as she cuts in. "I had to argue with you just to get you to come here with us."</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Tsunade doesn't seem to understand Sakura's reaction. "You're not? But you're so-" she waves a hand in the pink-haired medic's direction, as if it should explain everything. Infuriatingly, Shizune and Ino are nodding along with her. Sakura wonders what the others see.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"What other conclusion are we supposed to make?" Ino jumps in again. "You're spending tons of time with Naruto. If you're not dating him, what are you so happy about?"</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"Huh? What? What are you talking-"</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Sakura's brain immediately reaches a critical error and jumps off a cliff as she comprehends what they're saying. She quickly reviews her memories of the time she's been spending with him and begins piecing together the implication that she really like-likes Naruto. And that it might be true.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>And it's same guy whose heart she knows she's broken multiple times.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>And she told the Nine Tails itself to treat her like a possible threat.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"Oh shit," she mumbles out.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Tsunade laughs.</em>
</p>
<p> </p><hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>Surprisingly, the hardest part of the job for Naruto to get used to was everyone calling him "Lord Hokage". He had spent his whole life being so familiar and casual with everyone that not being called by name threw him for a loop. To deal with this, he makes a notable effort to keep his work as Hokage separate from his personal life. His policy is simple: If he's wearing the cloak designating him as the Seventh Hokage of Konoha, then he's acting in his official capacity. If he's not, then he'd rather just be called "Naruto".</p>
<p>That's perhaps why Tsunade Senju is surprised to see a stern-faced Uzumaki fully dressed for his station at her door. They rarely chat about anything official since he took office. It's usually family talk and arranging for her to babysit his kids when needed (which she always grumbles about, but they both know she's simply faking).</p>
<p>Realizing that she's probably not going to like whatever conversation is about to be held, the retired Kage grumbles and allows him in while she heads over to her well-stocked cabinet of sake to grab a bottle and cup. She sits down on a couch in her home and pours herself a drink while Naruto stands impassively nearby.</p>
<p>"Shizune was Kakashi-sensei's assistant back before the attempt on his life. She said that only you were allowed to heal and help him recover," he begins with.</p>
<p>She nods and shrugs a bit, "That's simplifying it a little, but it's right."</p>
<p>"How much do you know?" Naruto asks as he crosses his arms over his chest.</p>
<p>Tsunade spares him a brief glance and takes a sip of her sake. "Enough that your teacher asked me not to look into it. I've had enough political bullshit in my life after dealing with Danzo and cleaning up Hiruzen's messes."</p>
<p>The implication that even the Fifth doesn't know everything hints that maybe he's on the right track after all. Why such an extensive cover-up? When it becomes apparent that she isn't going to volunteer any additional information, Naruto sits down across from her and ventures his guess on what happened, "The assassination attempt... That was Sakura, wasn't it."</p>
<p>The retired woman closes her eyes and lets out a deep sigh as she leans her head back to review her options. "Officially, I don't know. Unofficially, remnants of my student's chakra were still floating through him and his injuries matched how she does things."</p>
<p>Naruto cocks an eyebrow at that comment which makes her let out a snort. "She broke every single bone in his body."</p>
<p>Weirdly, a part of him is proud to hear that. By being in the shadow of Sasuke and himself, many tend to forget just how powerful his wife truly is. The fact that she was able to so decisively defeat a Kage in single combat speaks volumes.</p>
<p>"Do you know why?" he asks quietly.</p>
<p>"A little."</p>
<p>Tsunade takes a much larger gulp of her sake and sets the cup down. "Those elders came to talk to him while he was recovering in the secure room. I overheard a few things. From what I understand, Kakashi gave Sakura a mission that she objected to and refused. When he told her that they would assign it to someone else, she apparently threatened him."</p>
<p>Naruto's eyes are wide. This might be what he's looking for. "She threatened to kill him over a mission? What exactly was it?"</p>
<p>"I don't know." The woman's gaze is distant. "From what I heard them say, she knocked out whoever they reassigned the mission to and was seen dragging whoever it was to Ino's home. That's all I know."</p>
<p>Naruto nods and runs a hand through his hair. "Okay, thanks," he mutters, thinking of his next step.</p>
<p>So Ino might know something?</p>
<p> </p><hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>The door to Ino Yamanaka's home slams open in a rage and Sakura steps in, her eyes the definition of cold fury. She glances across the room and spots Sai sitting on the couch with Ino straddling him, kissing him. Under better circumstances, Sakura thinks she might have snickered at how out of his element Sai looks. They're thankfully still wearing clothes.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"Out," she demands to Sai as she points her thumb behind her.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"I'm a little busy here, Forehead," Ino growls back, extremely displeased at the disturbance. The alcohol from Naruto's birthday party is still circulating through her and she was looking forward to using the liquid courage to make a move on her boyfriend. Sai wasn't allowed to go to the party because he was stuck on a patrol duty that didn't end until after it was over so this was the first chance she'd gotten to see him in a while.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>What neither Sai nor Ino had seen however was what Sakura was carrying. Lifting the weight off her shoulder, she dumps the body of a woman onto Ino's floor. The blond doesn't know who she is, but thinks she looks vaguely familiar.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Sai, however, seems to have more to say. Lifting Ino off of him and setting her down, he leans closer to get a look before shifting his head toward Sakura. "You are carrying a former Root ninja," he observes.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Sakura's eyes briefly widen at the new information before hardening again. "Get out. You don't want to be part of this," she demands again.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Seeing as Ino is too stunned to react, Sai proceeds to do exactly that. When the door gently closes behind him, Ino shoots up from the couch and jabs a finger at Sakura. "This had better be good. I had plans tonight that you've ruined," she vents loudly.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"Find out who sent her."</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"Is this even legal? You heard Sai. She's part of Konoha. Root all retired or were integrated into normal service."</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"I need you to find out who sent her," Sakura repeats herself. "Please. It's important."</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Hesitantly, Ino crouches down beside the unconscious woman on the floor. She looks back up to the medic for a moment uncertainly, not sure what she's getting into. "Okay, fine," she mumbles to herself.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>It's a little difficult in her slightly tipsy state of mind, but Ino places both hands on the woman's forehead and begins to use the mind technique that her family is known for. Two minutes later, she falls backwards and scrambles for something to lean on.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"What? Wh-What did I just see? What the hell is going on?" she demands of her friend.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Sakura strides over and crouches down in front of her, trying to comfort her, but she's still too furious for it to come off as sincere. "I refused a mission. I need to know if they reassigned it to her," she allows.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Ino isn't paying attention though. She's already drawing her own conclusions. "This is why the Hokage wanted me to write psych reports on you and Naruto. Oh my god. What have I done?" she mumbles to herself in disbelief as things begin to dawn on her. The blond had heard of missions like this before, but she'd never had a first hand case of one in front of her. She'd never even seen evidence they exist!</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Looking back over to the face of the unknown woman, she continues, "That's where I saw her before. She was the bartender at the party. I saw a memory of her putting something in Naruto's drinks."</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"I've checked him. It looks like whatever it was blocked his access to Kurama and most of his own chakra," Sakura explains.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>The use of former Root members makes sense to Sakura now. Kurama may not have noticed any ill intention because Root ninja usually had their emotions trained out of them. The woman must have been an excellent actor. The only reason Sakura was even mildly concerned that something was wrong was because she didn't like the way Naruto was staggering back home drunk. Usually the beast sealed inside of him would burn it away quickly. She carried him home, put him to bed, then hung around outside for a little while. An hour later, she saw the bartender from the party trying to sneak into his home with a collection of drugs and substances that she hasn't had the chance to identify yet.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Using an emotionless Root and specialized poisons specifically as a way to get around Kurama. She has really underestimated Kakashi.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"She was going to pretend to be you after getting inside," Ino mutely reveals.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"Please," Sakura nearly begs. "Please just tell me who sent her."</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Ino slowly looks back up, finding eye contact a little difficult and feeling far too guilty about her own unintentional involvement with the reports about her friends. "Those two old advisors did most of the talking, but," she stops for a moment and finally looks Sakura in the eyes, "the Sixth was there."</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Sakura freezes, her fists clenching unconsciously with the confirmation of what she suspected. Ever so slowly, she stands up. "I told him," she mutters darkly. "I told him. I told him that I wouldn't stand for this."</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Visible chakra begins to flicker in and out of existence around her hands out of sheer rage. Quickly, she turns around and takes long strides towards the door.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"Wait," Ino tries to stop her before she does anything too rash. "What are you going to do?"</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>There's a long moment of silence as she is suddenly reminded of the fact that Sakura is a top contender for being the most powerful kunoichi in Konoha.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"I'm going to kill the Hokage."</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Fifteen minutes later, in the dead of night, the top floor of the Hokage's office explodes.</em>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>A section of the forest is leveled. The surroundings are burned by fire and the grass is scorched by lightning. Craters litter the landscape and significant chunks of earth have been rearranged.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kakashi Hatake lies beaten and broken on the ground before her.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>When Sakura attacked, the Sixth demanded the hidden guards in the office stay out of it and purely work to keep everything as discreet as possible via barriers and heavy use of genjutsu so that no one would notice or get involved. The fact that a considerable number of the forces in the village were incapacitated due to celebrations, sleep, and intoxication helped mitigate things.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>She can't do it. Fighting hadn't made her feel any better and she finds herself starting to cry that things had come to this. An overwhelming feeling of sadness rises within her.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"I don't know why you're trying so hard to mess with Naruto's life," Sakura voices, perhaps talking to herself, trying to understand.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kakashi can't respond. His jaw is broken along with the rest of body.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"It's like... it's like you don't see it. The world is changing and you just can't see it. Why? Why can't you see it?" she cries despondently. Sakura takes a shuddering breath as tears fall from her eyes. "Maybe you don't want to. You're too stuck in the old ways."</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Bringing up her hand, she examines the kunai she's still fiercely gripping. It's full of scratches and the tip is partially chipped. She releases it and watches as it falls to the ground where it embeds itself in the dirt.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"I don't know why you don't believe in Naruto, but I do. He's going to change the world," Sakura declares and proudly pounds her chest even as her voice chokes, "and I'm going to be there every step of the way with him."</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>With a slight limp from battle, the medic kneels next to the Hokage and heals him enough so that he won't succumb from his injuries.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"If you can't see that, then we're just going to leave you behind."</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>She walks away.</em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>"Welcome to Yamanaka Flowers!" comes the voice of Ino, crouched behind the counter. Standing up, she spots who came through the door. "Naru- Lord Hokage!"</p>
<p>With a few quick signals to indicate that this shouldn't be overheard, he places a seal tag on the counter to ensure privacy while Ino locks the doors and temporarily closes shop.</p>
<p>Mentally, Naruto goes over what he knows. Tsunade said that Sakura was seen dragging someone to Ino's home before she attacked Kakashi that night and this mystery person is most likely the Root ninja that the mission was reassigned to. He's pretty sure he knows what's going on, but why? His assumption is that Kakashi tried to get Sakura to take part in some kind of plot to fake a relationship with him in order to have his child, so how does this Root fit in?</p>
<p>Taking a second to shake himself off, he allows himself to drift into his official persona. "I'm investigating an old mission. On the night that the Sixth was attacked, Sakura was seen carrying a former Root kunoichi into your home. What can you tell me about this?"</p>
<p>Ino's faint smile falters and collapses entirely. "Oh."</p>
<p>Naruto expects her to continue and say something, but nothing comes out of her mouth. Ino stands there, silently, with apparently no intent of sharing any information.</p>
<p>"Are you protecting Sakura?" he blurts out before flinching at his own atrocious choice of words. Making it sound like he's accusing his wife of something is not the right way to go here.</p>
<p>Ino doesn't seem to notice however. Her face slightly twists in several emotions in response to what he said, alarm racing for the front seat. Suddenly, "She loves you."</p>
<p>Before he can even think to say anything back, Ino reaches forward to grab one of his hands in emphasis. "I promise you, she loves you," the blond insists. "She really loves you."</p>
<p>Naruto takes a deep breath and closes his eyes to re-center himself before he puts his foot in his mouth again. Despite everything, he finds himself smiling. "I know," he says. He honestly believes it. "I'm really lucky."</p>
<p>It's obvious that she thinks he's misunderstanding and is afraid he now hates his wife. Suddenly feeling stupid and uncomfortable with using his position of authority for this, he takes off his hat and shrugs off his cloak to drape it over a chair. It's how he should have handled this to begin with. It was always a personal thing.</p>
<p>"I know Sakura is innocent in all this. I'm just looking for... confirmation, I guess," Naruto explains lamely. "What was the Root member trying to do?"</p>
<p>Something in her expression settles, but her face continues contorting a few times as she appears to wage some kind of internal battle. After a long moment of silence, Ino takes a deep breath and tells her side of the story.</p>
<p>She tells him about how certain interested parties wanted to make sure there were more viable Uzumaki jinchūriki. About how they grew concerned after hearing that Naruto turned down Hinata and wanted to know why. About how she was asked to write up psychological reports on him and Sakura while disguising the purpose so that she thought it was something benign. About how she wrote down that Naruto only ever had eyes for Sakura and would never have interest in anyone else.</p>
<p>She tells him about the mission. About how Sakura refused to try to manipulate him like that. About how the Sixth tried anyway, but with Sakura interfering and Naruto having zero interest in anyone else, they had to do it by force.</p>
<p>"I was drugged," Naruto dumbly repeats, disbelieving his former teacher would go so far. "And this Root ninja, she was going to... really?"</p>
<p>Ino nods. "Sakura caught her at the last moment and needed me to find out who sent her. That's how I found out about all this."</p>
<p>He drags a hand over his face. <em>Kakashi... what the hell?</em> The Seventh grabs his things and stands up to leave. "Thanks for telling me. I mean it," he says as he begins making his way out the door.</p>
<p>The woman catches him first, a worried look on her face. "I promised I wouldn't tell. She's scared of you finding out," she reveals.</p>
<p>Naruto nods in understanding. He thinks it's time to put this ghost to rest.</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>When the adrenaline wears off and Sakura is back at home in her apartment, she promptly has a panic attack over what she's done. It lasts into the morning.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"There's some kind of cover-up going on," Ino announces as she returns from her latest venture to try and gather intel. "Official word is that the assailant was dealt with, but the details are classified. Naruto has been bothering Shizune all day about it. I don't think she knows anything."</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Sakura nods distantly. As much as she regrets getting her involved, Sakura greatly appreciates having Ino understand what's going on. She had been so uncertain for so long as to if there actually was a threat or not, but now that there is and she has attacked their leader in response, she finds her body wound tighter than ever in unimaginable levels of stress. Her fate seems to hang in the balance and she doesn't know what to do. By all rights, she could be executed.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"Listen, Sakura," Ino tries to get her friend's attention, "stay as long as you need. I mean it."</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>She plops down into a seat beside the pink-haired medic and passes over a bottle of water to drink before asking the thing that's been on her mind ever since she found out about this whole mess, "Why didn't you date Naruto? That seems like it would have been the easiest way to deal with it. The Hokage probably would have backed off then."</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Sakura quickly downs the drink. "You realize that's exactly what Kakashi wanted, right?" she points out.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"I thought we already dealt with that whole 'I really, really like Naruto' thing," the blond replies, mildly confused. "We were all there when you had that little epiphany. Look, one day, Naruto is probably going to want to have a kid. Who cares if the Hokage happens to want the same thing?"</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"It should be his choice!"</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"Exactly. Why can't you be his choice? You must have thought about it."</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Sakura gets up and tosses the water bottle in the recycling. "I lost that right a long time ago," she vaguely answers, once again thinking of a certain snowy night in the Land of Iron. Ino facepalms.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"I cannot believe the two of you," she mutters quietly enough so that it can't be heard. Knowing she can't say anything that Naruto told her in confidence, she still does her best to bat for him. "I think Naruto has a virtually infinite capacity for forgiveness. Just look at Sasuke."</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Recalling what Naruto thought about the bond between him and Sasuke, the medic ignores the example, "Sasuke's different. It's- It's complicated."</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Ino contemplates screaming. "So you're just, what, giving up?" she asks.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"Even if I wanted to-" Sakura cuts herself off and starts over. "I was able ask for Kurama's help without Naruto knowing. He can sense emotions. He won't let me."</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>It takes a moment for the blond to remember that Kurama is the name of the powerful Nine Tails sealed inside of Naruto. It's not something that comes up in daily conversation. Still not seeing the problem, Ino ventures, "I can't say I know how that works, but If you really love him, he would be able to sense that then, right? What are you so afraid of?"</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Sakura can't give her an answer.</em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>Shikamaru stands by a whiteboard, drawing a quick diagram of five points in a circle, then making connecting lines between each of them to form a mesh. "If you want the exchange program to be self-sustaining, we need to get the other villages to work with each other. They're only interested in doing it with us right now," he explains.</p>
<p>"Right. But how? I can't just make them do it," Naruto says as he leans back in his chair. He grabs a letter from Taki that came in the day before. "Taki wants to be involved and they're looking for one or two medical ninja. Is there someone else other than us we can point them to?"</p>
<p>"Lady Tsunade taught some lessons in Suna last month," the Nara muses after a moment of thinking. "They might be willing to do it."</p>
<p>The door to the office opens and in walks Tenten who is escorting one Kakashi Hatake. She cheerily announces, "I found him, Lord Hokage."</p>
<p>Naruto waves back, "Thanks Tenten. I'll take him." With that, Tenten leaves.</p>
<p>With a quick nod to Shikamaru indicating that they'll finish up after, the shadow user follows her out. Naruto grabs a small pile of papers before reaching out to hand them to his predecessor, stating, "There's apparently a rule or something that says you have to verify that your old stuff is real before I can do anything with it."</p>
<p>Kakashi sheepishly scratches the side of his face. "Ahh, oops?"</p>
<p>With a roll of his eyes, Naruto gets started. "Here's a law you wrote about the storage of explosives."</p>
<p>"I signed that?"</p>
<p>"This one is a tax on lotteries and gambling you wrote a week after becoming Hokage. Really Kakashi-sensei, do you hate her that much for giving you the job?"</p>
<p>"No comment."</p>
<p>"And this," Naruto says as he slides the mysterious paycheck over to him.</p>
<p>The Sixth reaches down to grab it for a better look and freezes for a moment after reading it. Naruto doesn't give him time to say anything in response however. "We're going to talk about this, but not right now. The real me would want to do it himself and he's busy picking up Shina and Hanami for Sakura's birthday. I'm disappointed in you and I want to know what those old guys told you to make you think this could possibly be a good idea. I just ignore them. It's not like they have any power."</p>
<p>Taking the check back, the now revealed clone states, "I hope she beat some sense into you that night. Boss isn't happy."</p>
<p>Kakashi lowers his head and lets out a long sigh, not looking forwarding to that conversation. It was always a possibility for him to find out once he had the full authority of being Hokage at his disposal. He supposes he deserves this.</p>
<p>"She did."</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>Sakura isn't sure what to think when a mostly recovered Kakashi shows up at her door, leaning casually against the frame. His right arm is still in a cast and there is a clear flinch of pain when he shifts his weight on his legs. She doesn't greet him and he doesn't say anything either which leads to an awkward silence. The man coughs into his hand.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"I've had a lot of time to think about what you said," he begins with a light shrug. "Not much else to do. Lady Tsunade wasn't inclined to read to me."</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>The thought of the Fifth reading Kakashi's smut out loud to him like reading a bedtime story to a child is certainly a mental image. She doesn't respond though. She had already expressed her thoughts on the matter and doesn't feel like saying it again.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"You're right. I don't see it. I've seen this cycle of peace after a war before and it's hard for me to see this one as any different," the Sixth continues, "but that doesn't mean that I can't have someone show me the way."</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>She blinks, unsure if she heard that right.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"I'm going to talk to Naruto about making him my assistant and set him up with diplomatic authority," Kakashi reveals.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"Good," Sakura responds stiffly with a nod. "And the mission?"</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"Cancelled. Technically it's on indefinite hold, but that's so certain people won't ask questions."</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>She wonders when it will hit her that she's actually done it. She nods again. "If you pull anything like this again, I won't stop to heal you. You're the one who taught us to not abandon our teammates."</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>For a man that was already a trained killer at a mere five years old and buried himself in the darkness of ANBU for a decade after the deaths of those closest to him, the future that Jiraiya and Naruto see is something difficult to grasp. The picture Sakura paints is a world foreign to him, one where he has no map and doesn't have as much faith as Naruto that a path exists to navigate it.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Perhaps, Kakashi wonders, what she told him may not have been entirely correct. Naruto and Sakura aren't going to leave him behind.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>They already have long ago.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"I think," he finally says, "that I have much to learn from my students."</em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>"I can't believe you took me to that stupid burger place for my birthday," Sakura laughs out. The fact she's laughing about it is good news, but that doesn't stop Naruto from grimacing.</p>
<p>"I promised the kids I would let them help choose where we would go. Shina wanted burgers and Hanami wanted to go to Ichiraku's. They flipped a coin. I thought they'd at least consider what you would want to eat," he helplessly tries to explain while failing his arms around.</p>
<p>After returning home and putting their children to bed, Naruto insisted on dragging Sakura away and she finds him leading her up to the top of the Hokage Monument. She knows the route well and allows herself to close her eyes and lean against her husband as they walk.</p>
<p>"Why are we going up here?" Sakura questions, willing to play along a little longer.</p>
<p>Naruto taps his chin with his free hand. "I was thinking. We've had some pretty important moments up here. I asked you to marry me. I convinced you to have a date with me for the first time."</p>
<p>There's the sound of a throat clearing coming from Sakura. "I'm the one who asked you out."</p>
<p>"I wanted to add another one to that list," he goes on as if he didn't hear her.</p>
<p>Sakura raises an eyebrow.</p>
<p>"I never gave you my birthday gift for you, did I?" he muses as they near the top, full well knowing that he was just waiting for the right moment.</p>
<p>An amused grin slips on her face and she legitimately seems mildly surprised. "You didn't forget this time?"</p>
<p>Naruto hums in response, hamming up his act. He pulls out the paycheck that's been on his mind the past few days.</p>
<p>"Jonin Sakura Uzumaki," the man speaks with authority which causes his wife to roll her eyes, "while completing an audit for missing documents, an undelivered mission payment was located. In my capacity as the Seventh Hokage, I am returning what rightfully belongs to you."</p>
<p>He hands it over to her and watches as Sakura takes one look at the amount of the payment.</p>
<p>And promptly punches Naruto in the gut.</p>
<p>"Naruto! You can't just steal from the village for my birthday! What the hell is wrong with you?" she barks out.</p>
<p>Gasping as the air was just knocked out of him, he wheezes back, "C-Check s-signature."</p>
<p>Sakura looks at it again and is now even more confused than before after seeing that it wasn't Naruto who signed it. "How old is this?" she mutters to herself. Naruto isn't entirely sure himself, but he speculates that it was written right after his son was born as some kind of apology gift. That would put it at about six years old.</p>
<p>"I found it the other day while we were finishing up Kakashi's old stuff," he explains after catching his breath.</p>
<p>The woman keeps flipping the check over, looking for some kind of explanation. "I don't get it. I think I'd remember this."</p>
<p>The Hokage switches back to his official voice, "Your methods were highly unusual. You sabotaged the efforts of the other Konoha kunoichi assigned to the mission and committed the highest level of treason by attempting to assassinate the Hokage, but despite that, you were successfully able to ensure that Naruto Uzumaki had a child."</p>
<p>Sakura pales. She's so white that he worries she might be about to faint. Her mouth opens and closes several times, unable to make a sound. Right as Naruto thinks he sees her lose balance and start to fall over, he rushes forward and pulls her close, pressed against his chest. Gently, he places his lips on her forehead and murmurs, "Thank you for looking out for me."</p>
<p>Her head jerks back at his voice and her wide eyes stare at him, a mix of absolute terror and desperate hope written on her face. As Naruto whispers reassurances to her, she buries her face in his shoulder and begins to cry.</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>By keeping her ear close to the ground, Ino Yamanaka is able to find out exactly when the Sixth will be returning to office. She gets there early and camps out a spot before a single other person in the building arrives.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Hours later, when the sun finally comes up, she is the first person to meet with him that day.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"A transfer form?" Kakashi asks as he looks up from the paper to the kunoichi that had handed it to him. He seemed mildly surprised.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Ino's face is blank. "Is this a problem, Lord Hokage?" she asks emtionlessly.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>The man hums lowly and reaches for a pen. "No," he replies. "Justification for request?"</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>An answer comes easily to her. "I don't want to work in an area where I need to worry about my work being used against the people I care about."</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>The pen halts in motion and Kakashi stops writing to look up at the kunoichi's face. The mask makes him impenetrably hard to read. After an extended moment, he reaches over for a stamp and presses it on the page.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"Permission granted. The barrier team has been asking for you. They'll be happy to have you back full-time."</em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>After calming down, the two of them have taken a seat near the edge of the monument.</p>
<p>"I was afraid you'd find out and assume the worst," Sakura reveals. "I begged Ino and Kurama to never tell you."</p>
<p>It takes a second for what she said to register. "Wait, Kurama knew about this? The whole time!?" he shouts, surprised. He then begins rapidly punching himself in the stomach. "You stupid furball! Do you have any idea how much trouble you could have saved me!"</p>
<p>The faint sound of snoring within his mind is all that he hears back in response.</p>
<p>Sakura laughs, a nice sound to hear given what they had been talking about, and reaches out to grab his hands to make him stop. "It's a long story."</p>
<p>A comfortable silence rests between them. Naruto feels at peace again and he hopes that he has taken this burden off her mind. There's only one loose end left.</p>
<p>"Do I need to yell at Kakashi?" Naruto asks.</p>
<p>Shrugging uncaringly, Sakura answers, "We came to an understanding a long time ago after he came around to my way of thinking. It's ancient history."</p>
<p>He frowns, not entirely happy with the answer. This may have been several years old for her, but it's fresh for him. Maybe he'll just dial down the talk one notch. "Summon the Nine Tails for intimidation" is probably a little too high.</p>
<p>Sakura grabs a small rock and tosses it off the edge of the cliff. "You're still looking for an assistant, right?" she asks.</p>
<p>A groan unwillingly forces its way out of Naruto's throat as his thoughts are pulled back to the conversation at hand. "There were a lot of people applying. Shikamaru and I have it down to 10 or so. I became Hokage 6 months ago. You'd think this would go faster."</p>
<p>"I want you to hire me."</p>
<p>A pause. "Why? You're running pretty much everything Medical."</p>
<p>"After we fought that night, there were some things I said," Sakura says, lost in her memories, "Kakashi didn't have faith that we could see peace you're working for, but I did, and I told him I was going to be there with you every step of the way."</p>
<p>She stands and looks down upon the village, renewed purpose in her eyes. "I want to be involved. I can't do that from the hospital."</p>
<p>Naruto turns to look at her in surprise, not having expected this. There will probably need to be a longer conversation about if this is really what she wants, but for now, he thinks that's a discussion for another time.</p>
<p>He gets up to stand beside her. "We'll figure something out. Happy birthday, Sakura."</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>Sasuke Uchiha comes home.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>For the first time, he sends Sakura and Naruto a correspondence indicating his intent to return and when he'll arrive.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>The honest truth is that she had kind of forgotten about his existence in all of the recent chaos she's been wrapped up in. She wants to see him, but things are different now. After everything that's happened, she wonders if she wants a relationship with Sasuke at all.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>When the date of his arrival rolls around, Sakura never shows up. She doesn't go to the gate. She doesn't meet up with Naruto. She doesn't look for anyone.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Naruto once told her that he felt that the top of the Hokage Monument was his favorite place to think when he wanted to be alone. Deciding to give it a shot, Sakura takes the path up to watch over the majestic view of her home.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Sitting there alone, she thinks.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Time passes. The sun rises fully in the sky and sets on the horizon.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Sakura is broken from her trance when the sound of someone calling her name drifts by her ear. Sure enough, there's a rustling of bushes nearby seconds later where Naruto Uzumaki emerges, waving his arms frantically.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"Sakura! Where have you been? Did you forget about Sasuke coming home? I've been giving excuses for you not showing up all day and I don't think the one about you having a plumbing problem is going to last much longer!" he exclaims as he jogs towards her.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Naruto reaches to grab her arm to pull her up and start dragging her towards the village, but it's interrupted when Sakura begins to struggle.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"Naruto! Stop- Let me go you idiot!" She kicks him for good measure which makes him stagger back.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>It takes the blond a second to register that she doesn't seem concerned about what he just said and she's also not making a move to head back.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"Wha- why? You, you don't want to see him," he accuses while leaning in. "Why? This is what you've been waiting for, isn't it?"</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Ino's words echo through her mind. What is she so afraid of? A lot of things, really.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Sakura resists the defensive instinct to attack. "I just... needed to think about things," she tries to say with confidence and fails miserably as she fidgets in place.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>His expression makes it clear he doesn't believe her in the slightest despite the fact that it's technically true.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>It's all so stupid now. What is she so afraid of?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"I was thinking about that question you once asked me. The one about why I love Sasuke."</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>She's afraid of looking like an idiot. She's afraid that she had already lost her chance with him years ago even though she's seen what was written up about her in Naruto's psych notes.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Naruto's face shifts away from suspicion and back to something more normal, but he stays silent.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"I think the answer is that I don't. Maybe I never did. I wanted to love him though, but that's a different thing. I understand that now. I wanted so badly to love him that I thought I really did."</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>She's afraid she's misunderstanding herself again. She's afraid of being called out by the Nine Tails.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"How do you know?" is Naruto's blunt question. "You haven't even talked to him."</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"Because someone else showed me what that kind of love feels like."</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>She's afraid that what she's feeling isn't real.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>The most bizarre expression Sakura has ever seen overtakes Naruto, but she doesn't dare let him respond or else any courage she has left might fade away. Seizing the moment, she grabs him by the collar of his shirt, pulls him down and kisses him.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>She likes it so much she does it again.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>And as Naruto staggers back in utter shock, Sakura watches and waits for the moment where Kurama intervenes and says something to his host, usually spotted by Naruto's eyes glazing over.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>She waits.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>And waits.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>And wai-</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"Y-You," he stammers, "Why did you do that?"</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Sakura blinks, realizing that Kurama still hadn't done anything yet. She hadn't thought this far ahead. Her courage is now tapped out, leaving her feeling vulnerable and shy.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"It was you, Naruto," she says, suddenly finding her feet incredibly interesting, but quickly pulls her attention back to his face when she remembers to keep watching his eyes.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Is the fox really not going to do anything? Does this mean...?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Naruto's face cycles through a sort of inverse 'five stages of grief'. "Is this really happening?" he asks, eyes wide and full of hope.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Taking a deep breath, Sakura goes all in. "I know I've screwed up before, but I want to try again. How about a date tomorrow?"</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>His head is practically a blur of nodding as he rapidly babbles, "Yes. Yes! That sounds good. Amazing in fact. Best thing I've ever heard."</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"Good. I'll make plans. I'll see you tomorrow at seven." She grabs him and kisses him one more time for good measure, leaving Naruto completely dumbfounded.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>As she walks down the path back home, Sakura faintly hears Naruto screaming in joy from the top of monument.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>In what could later be argued as either a moment of brilliance or stupidity, Sakura takes him to Ichiraku's.</em>
</p>
<p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Sorry about the delay on this, considering that chapter 2 was so quick. I'm not much of a romance dialogue writer so I struggled immensely with the more emotional/touching/fluffy parts. All part of the learning process, blah blah blah.</p>
<p>Fun facts about this story</p>
<p>-Apparently Boruto likes a burger stand. I figured I'd carry that over.</p>
<p>-According to Narutopedia, Ino is canonically the leader of the Konoha Barrier Team in the Boruto series. I use the events of this story as an opportunity to explain why she takes that path as opposed to a future leader of intelligence/interrogation.</p>
<p>-Sai recognized the Root kunoichi. As such, Kakashi couldn't allow him to go the party. None of the characters put that together. This was actually a plot hole I noticed late into writing chapter 2, but the nature of the story allows me to just say "The Hokage did it".</p>
<p>-Naruto has rubbed off on Sakura more than she's aware of. In the end, she fixes things in a very Naruto-like way by beating people up and then giving a speech.</p>
<p>-I'm very on the fence about Sakura taking on an assistant role, but after writing the dialogue for the mini-speech she gives Kakashi, my brain wouldn't let it go any other way. My fear is that it ruins her individuality, but there is a certain amount of sense to it. I make a pretty big point in this story that she believes in Naruto's goals, and she can't be involved in that with her canon career path.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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